Venezuela has suspended a regional summit scheduled for 5 July, --which also coincides with the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence--, amid continuing speculation over the state of health of President Hugo Chavez.
Mercosur plans to begin negotiations with associate members Bolivia and Ecuador to make them full members, said Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Antonio Patriota during Wednesday’s presidential summit in Paraguay.
Argentina Economy Minister Amado Boudou said that the idea of appealing to an only shared currency by Mercosur members generates ‘doubts’ given the European experience, and feels more inclined ‘to stimulate trade with local currencies”, so that each member country can take advantage of monetary policy macroeconomic instruments.
Mercosur Ministers of Industry meeting in Paraguay, ahead of the presidential summit, discussed on Tuesday different mechanisms to weaken the flood of ‘cheap’ manufactured goods from Southeast Asia.
Mercosur structural convergence fund, Focem, which was created in 2005, has distributed 1.1 billion US dollars among its full members for the implementation of 37 projects basically to improve roads for inter-region and international trade, according to official figures released in Asunción.
Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman in Asuncion for the Mercosur summit promised on Tuesday Argentina will put an end to fluvial obstacles to Paraguayan trade. Landlocked Paraguay trades with the rest of the world through the Parana River, most of which crosses Argentine territory.
Japan is attending the Mercosur summit in Paraguay with an eye on proposing the launch of a dialogue to boost bilateral economic relations and explore the possibility of signing a free trade agreement, reports the Japanese news agency Kyodo.
The Mercosur summit will be an opportunity to solve asymmetry problems and social inequalities in the region, said Paraguay’ Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Lara Castro. The South American customs union is meeting this week in Asuncion for the first of two annual summits when the rotating chair will be passed on to Uruguay.
Global rice production is expected to touch 476 million tons in 2011, on the back of improved weather conditions, as the influence of La Niña is expected to neutralize by June, United Nation’s body FAO said.
Mercosur summits have become a display of empty rhetoric, full of protocol and ‘family photos’ but with no full hearted willingness to achieve a solid, fair integration, claimed the head of the Paraguayan delegation before Parlasur, the Mercosur Parliament.